Islamic states condemn Israeli death penalty law for Palestinians in West Bank

Arab and Islamic countries on Thursday strongly condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ approval of a law permitting the imposition of the death penalty against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Türkiye, Qatar and the UAE denounced the Israeli occupying power’s enactment […]

Arab and Islamic countries on Thursday strongly condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ approval of a law permitting the imposition of the death penalty against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Türkiye, Qatar and the UAE denounced the Israeli occupying power’s enactment of the law in its parliament (Knesset), which allows the application of the death penalty against Palestinians.

The ministers warned that the move represents an escalation of discriminatory practices that entrench a system of apartheid and deny Palestinians their rights and existence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

They stressed that the legislation risks further escalating tensions and undermining regional stability.

The statement also expressed deep concern over the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention, citing credible reports of abuses including torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, starvation, and the denial of basic rights.

The ministers reaffirmed their rejection of what they described as racially discriminatory and aggressive policies targeting Palestinians.

Under the law passed by Israel’s parliament late on Monday, Palestinians convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as “acts of terrorism” will face the death penalty.

The law has been criticised by the United Nations and European Union, while the United States came out in support of “Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own laws”.

(Saudi Gazette/AFP)

Because Palestinians in the territory are automatically tried in Israeli military courts, the measure effectively creates a separate and harsher legal track.

In Israeli civilian courts, the law allows for either death or life imprisonment for those convicted of killing with the intent to harm the state.

Israel has applied the death penalty only twice: in 1948, shortly after the state’s founding, against a military captain accused of high treason, and then in 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hanged.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.